Belarus beat Swiss to face Finland in quarter-finals

RIGA, May 16:- Belarus beat Switzerland 2-1 in their final qualifying game on Tuesday to reach the world championship quarter-finals for the first time in their short history.

Forward Andrei Skabelka scored the first goal and assisted on the second for Belarus, who finished third in Group F behind Russia and Sweden and take on Olympic silver medallists Finland in the last eight.

Belarus coach Glen Hanlon, who is Canadian, took the victory in his stride.

''We did something great, really important tonight but we're not done yet,'' he said. ''We still can do more. We're looking forward to the quarter-finals.'' The top four teams of both qualifying groups advance to the quarter-finals.

Switzerland, who needed a draw to progress alongside Belarus and eliminate Slovakia, must now wait for the second game between the Slovaks and winless Ukraine later today.

Slovakia, the 2002 champions, need a draw to advance on goal difference at the expense of the Swiss.

The 35-year-old Skabelka put Belarus in front with a great individual effort, stickhandling past three Swiss defensemen and beating Montreal Canadiens goaltender David Aebischer from close range 9:04 into the game.

He then assisted on Sergei Zadelenov's goal midway through the second period.

Martin Pluss brought Switzerland within one at 8:17 of the final period to give his team a chance of salvaging a point.

The Swiss pulled their goalie for an extra skater with less than a minute remaining but could not find the equaliser.

''We fought hard until the end, we just ran out of time,'' Switzerland coach Ralph Krueger told reporters.

''It's a very painful day for us but Belarus played an excellent game, probably the best game in this championship.

''They got a two-goal lead and that was critical. Besides, their goalie (Andrei) Mezin was outstanding.

''Overall, Belarus were the better team and we can only congratulate them.'' Mezin made 29 saves compared with Aebischer's 19.

Belarus finished eighth on their debut in the top flight in 1998 but that was before the quarter-final system was introduced at world championships.

REUTERS